Shield High
by yellowspraypaintedsmiles
Summary: Highschool AU - Clint begins attending Shield High, somehow finding himself in the most exclusive group of kids at school. His sudden transfer and inconclusive backstory leaves his new friends with plenty of questions, and the adjustment to the new school is hardly easy, especially with the reputation Clint soon earns . Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

"Have you seen the new kids yet?" Bruce asked quietly, but Tony knew him well enough to sense the story behind the quiet statement. Whipping his head around, the young billionaire narrowed his eyes at Bruce, who had his nose stuck in a book, looking to all the world as if he didn't care one way or another. Thor and Steve both glanced up from their textbooks, both of them cramming for their test next period. They all watched the bespectacled kid, waiting for more information. When none was forthcoming, Tony huffed, impatient.

"No. We haven't. Why do you mention it? Who are they?" Thor and Steve both watched him as well, and Bruce seemed to shrink under the scrutiny, looking as if he regretted bringing it up.

"They're… no one really. Met them briefly earlier, they're cousins or something. They're nice. I thought we could let them eat with us, you know? New school and all, they won't have any friends here yet…" Bruce drifted off, seeing Tony's interest fade.

"Nobodies, huh? I'm sure they'll make their own friends Brucey. Besides, we're super extra exclusive, remember?" The playboy waggled his eyebrows, writing off the new kids. Steve sighed at Tony's ridiculousness, while Thor snorted a laugh out before returning to his book. The bell rang shrilly for the next class to start, and the boys rose together, Steve and Thor bound for their English class, Bruce for AP Chemistry, and Tony for a calculus class (he had passed calculus level years ago, but stayed on as a teacher's assistant for the credits). It was the only class the handsome genius had without at least one of his friends in it, and, as such, his least favorite.

Slouching into the classroom just a minute or two before the class started, he veered immediately to the back row, where the students in the class knew to leave a small bubble of desks empty. One of the desks for Tony to sit in, and the rest to act as a buffer zone against his sharp comments and occasional (read: quite often) moods. The teacher made no comment as he kicked his feet up on the desk in front of him, and the students kept their heads down, avoiding eye contact. Even though they couldn't see him, he scowled at the kids around him, their lower levels of intelligence offending him. Resigning himself to the next hour or so of playing on his phone while waiting for the class to end, Tony didn't even look up when the class hushed. He didn't even glance up when the teacher cleared her throat, asking for everyone's attention. He did, however, pause in tapping away at his phone when the teacher announced that they had a new student.

_Ah, the fresh meat Bruce mentioned_, he thought, glancing up only when the teacher asked the new kid to introduce himself. Tony's mouth opened with a small pop, and stayed that way.

"My name is Clint Barton. I've just moved here from Iowa."

The kid stood stiffly, clearly not having much fun standing in front of everyone, but his sharp jawline was raised defiantly, as if inviting anyone to snigger. He was one of the best looking individuals Tony had ever laid eyes upon, and he hung out with supermodels on a regular basis. No one said anything, though Tony distinctly heard one girl sigh dreamily. The teacher waited to see if the new kid would say anything more, before prompting,

"And what brings you to Shield High, Clint? Why did you move to New York?" He didn't say anything for a moment, staring down the teacher until she squirmed uncomfortably, then stating blandly,

"Well my parents died. The rest of my family lives in New York. Where else am I gonna go?" His face was carefully blank, and his tone so casual it was almost as if he was mentioning the weather. None of the students made a sound – no one seemed to even know how to react. The kid turned and looked at them all again, before sighing.

"So… can I sit down now? Or what?" He startled the teacher out of her mortification long enough to nod, gesturing towards empty chairs. He shrugged a beat leather backpack up higher on his shoulder, skirting the populated desks until he slid into one just next to Tony, never sparing a glance at the billionaire.

The lesson started and Tony immediately turned his attention to appraise the lean, if somewhat on the small side, boy next to him. Chuckling, he looked back down at his phone.

"What are you smirking at?" The newbie muttered in a low voice, still not turning to face Tony.

"Oh nothing. You just happen to be the most exciting thing to ever happen in this class. Quite an impression you made, Bambi," Tony said lightly.

"Who're you calling Bambi, Mr. doe-eyes?" the kid shot back. "And if that was the most exciting thing to happen here then you must all be bored to tears the rest of the time."

"Oh we are, well, I am. And you're Bambi because you stand up there, all adorable, and spit out your sob story. But hey, that's cool, I'd rather know what I'm dealing with before I bother making friends. Or not making friends." He gave the kid the up-down, which he scowled at, trying to decide if Tony was genuinely trying to poke fun at him or just making conversation. The scowl was slowly replaced by a small smile, nearly a smirk. The kid stuck out a hand.

"Clint. Not Bambi." Taking the hand in his own, Tony felt thick calluses, and then replied,

"Tony. Not Mr. doe-eyes. Tony Stark. Yes, _that _Stark." He watched Clint carefully, waiting for his reaction. Clint raised an eyebrow, but made no comment, shrugging it off. _Oh yes, we'll get along just fine_, thought Tony.

**AN: I know it is short, and I am definitely planning for all the other chapter to be longer. Please review, and let me know what pairings you'd like to see! I am leaning towards a little ironhawk, but I am open to suggestions and have a very flexible storyline, if you want to suggest something it is likely that I can work it in.**

**We will be meeting Natasha next chapter, as well as Loki sooner or later, and getting a bit more backstory on everyone. Let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I told you it wouldn't take too long! And I ****_did _****promise it would be longer than the last chapter. I wanted to make it even longer but it would have dragged on too long, I feel. Thanks for the positive feedback guys!**

Tony was fascinated. That might have been an understatement. Tony was _extremely_ fascinated with Clint Barton. It was like Clint was the brightest, shiniest new toy on Christmas morning. Really, that was the best description for it. _Who are you?_ Tony couldn't help but wonder, chin resting in his hand, openly staring at Clint, who was back to trying to ignore him, struggling to take down notes as quickly as he could. He kept shrugging off Tony's questions, shushing him loudly. Other students kept trying to turn around to sneak glances at the attractive, gutsy new kid who dared to sit next to Stark, but Tony's glare had them whipping back to face forwards again. Tony absently gnawed at his lip.

"So who're you here with? My friend said there were new kids. _Kids_. As in plural. You're one, who is the other one?" Tony didn't even bother to whisper, the teacher was too far away to worry about and the students sitting nearby knew better than to try to get him to shut up. Clint sighed heavily.

"You know Stark, I'm starting to think that you don't understand what it means when someone shushes you." Clint had this way of speaking where he sounded irritated and amused at the same time, all while keeping the tone low and casual, like he was talking to himself and making no effort to actually reply to Tony. And Tony was loving it.

"I'm a Stark, and notoriously the loudest person in a room at any given moment," Clint snorted at that, so Tony kept going, "Stop avoiding my questions Bambi."

"Stop calling me Bambi and I might answer. Or keep it up and I can move seats, _Stark_."

Grinning, Tony started to reply but a firm _ahem_ came from the front of the room.

"Stark, stop distracting Barton. _He _actually needs to pay attention to class in order to pass this course-"

"Not if he has me. I'm worth easily double the textbook. That's like, a forty-dollar textbook we're talking about here. Now, I may be wrong, though I never am, but my multiple free ride scholarships say differently. I could teach this in my sleep."

"Then why don't you, Mr. Stark?" The teacher pursed her lips and held out her dry erase marker, gesturing Tony to the board. _Damn she caught me_, Tony glanced over to see Clint trying to hide laughter behind his hands. Rolling his eyes, Tony groaned and headed up to the white board.

Tony shoved two kids into the doorway, flying out into the hall. _How the hell did he beat me out the door?_ Tony spun in a circle, trying to see over the heads of the students now flooding into the hallways. The bell had only just rung, and Tony was _always_ the first one out, yet somehow Clint had given him the slip.

Turning around and veering towards the main hallway, Tony huffed and plowed through the mass of students in front of him. Catching a glimpse of Clint's grey jacket vanishing down a side hallway, Tony slammed a small herd of freshmen into the lockers in his haste to follow. And… the hallway was empty. Slowing to a stop, Tony spun in a circle. There was no way Clint had already walked down the length of the hall. Hesitantly still walking forwards, Tony jumped when he heard a huge thud just around the corner, and start running when a large crash followed it. Careening around the corner, Tony came to a dead stop to see Steve standing over Clint, holding some kid by the scruff of their collar, another teen laying dazed across the hall, like Steve had thrown him into the lockers.

"Clint? Oh my god… Clint!" Someone came running from the far end of the hallway, but Tony beat them to Clint. Helping the kid up, Tony turned to see his least favorite person in the world approaching.

"Rogers! What are you doing manhandling my friends?" Loki spat at them like venom.

"Friends? You mean your lackeys?" Steve was furious, Loki being one of the few people who could ever piss him off to such an extent. "They just threw themselves at this guy! Like usual, no reasoning, no warning, just started beating the crap out of some poor kid. But, as usual, I was here to stop them. Control your minions _Loki_," Steve growled, practically throwing the bully he had by the collar into Loki's arms. The kid who had called out Clint's name had finally made it down the hallway, brushing Clint's jacket off and looking between Steve and Loki, watching the standoff. Loki sneered, pushing his lackey behind him.

"The kid must have deserved it then, because," Loki cut off, finally looking over and seeing Clint. Although Loki's expression didn't change, Tony the hairs on his arms stand up, and tried to subtly angle himself so he was standing in front of Clint, but Clint was having none of that.

"I didn't even look at them, you asshat! I wasn't even walked near them and they swung at me! Cross me again and I'll swing back," he threatened, steely grey eyes flashing.

"Oh, how… intimidating," Loki drawled, sweeping his eyes up and down Clint's frame as if trying to point out the teen's shortness, but Tony knew his gaze was lingering longer than it needed to. The stranger next to Clint put a hand on his arm, trying to keep him from throwing himself at Loki.

The dark haired teen met Clint's stony expression with a sharp emerald gaze.

"I expect you're the new boy then, aren't you? You'll learn the rules here quickly enough I suppose, although…" Loki's eyes swept between Tony and Steve, "You're off to a pretty bad start. Choose your friends carefully, if you want to last here."

And with that he swept off, his cronies trailing behind him, glaring daggers at Steve before hurrying to catch up to Loki. Tony turned back to Clint, finding the stranger knocking invisible dust off his jacket again, fretting.

"Your first day! I can't believe it Clint, how do you manage to do this _every single time_? You've got to be more careful, what if no one was here to watch your back?" the stranger, with dusty brown hair and worried eyes, looking like a senior, turned to Steve, "Thank you so much, I can't believe you did that, I'm so grateful you stepped in there I don't know how to thank you!"

Steve looked caught between pride and embarrassment, stumbling to reply, while Clint looked like he was going to hit something.

"Phil, stop. Stop. _Phil,_" Clint grumbled, looking at the floor. The stranger(Phil) turned back to him, trying to smooth out wrinkles in Clint's shirt while Clint tried to worm away. "I'm _fine_, seriously. They just caught me by surprise, they'd hardly touched me when Blondie showed up."

Steve sputtered at the nickname, and Tony rolled his eyes, tired of the awkward talking.

"Clint, Blondie's name is _Steve_. Steve Rogers. Steve this is Clint Barton, one of the newbies Bruce was telling us about. And this must be the other one…?"

"Coulson. Phil Coulson," he stuck out his hand formally, shaking both Tony's and Steve's, before continuing, "And Natasha is around here somewhere."

"So there're three of you? And you're all, what? Cousins? Siblings?" Tony quirked an eyebrow. Coulson and Clint exchanged a look.

"Cousins," Coulson said hesitantly, and Tony's gaze narrowed. Why the long pause? Before he could comment, Coulson started in on poor Steve again.

"Thank you so much, really, I really appreciate it Steve. I can't watch out for this kid all the time, right?" Clint was giving him a death glare but Coulson ignored him as if he were used to it. "We owe you one! Come on now Clint, let's get going."

Coulson practically hauled Clint down the hallway by the arm. Steve and Tony stared after them for a moment, both dumbfounded. Looking at each other, Tony struggled for the right words to explain what had just happened. Steve beat him to it.

"That was weird."

"Uh, yeah. No kidding. I thought Clint seemed alright in Calculus, well, my version of alright anyways, but now that we've met his… cousin, or whatever they are… it makes me wonder." Tony drifted off, and Steve's eyebrows drew together, taking note of Tony's tone.

"Tony, no-"

"Let's keep him!"

"Clint! Haha I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me, didn't you?"

"What are you doing here?" Clint gave Tony an exasperated look. Mocking being offended, Tony gestured to the classroom door, and the students milling around outside, waiting for the teacher to let them in.

"I was here first Barton. I think I'm allowed to attend my English class." Tony broke off suddenly as something rammed into his back, causing him to stumble to the side as something red swept past him, standing directly between him and Clint.

"You'd think people would have some sense of personal space, wouldn't you Clint? Everyone here is too friendly. Makes me want to castrate someone." The red turned out to be an array of carefully curled hair, belonging to yet another attractive new student. Huffing, still slightly doubled over, Tony managed to pull out his best playboy grin, to which the girl glared back.

"You must be Natasha," he began, but her eyes narrowed.

"And you must be Tony Stark. Yeah. I've heard about you. Don't take that as a compliment," She spoke coldly, Clint standing back and watching as if this were about to become the funniest thing he had ever seen. Tony was, at this point, genuinely perplexed as to why neither Clint nor his beautiful relation seemed immune to his charms. If the looks didn't cut it, his family name (and thus, vast fortunes) were usually enough for anyone to be falling over themselves. Who the hell were these people?

"So you were there at the Loki showdown, huh?" Natasha had her arms crossed over her chest, sizing him up. "What do you know about that kid?"

"Too much," Tony started, then shrugged. "He's the fucked up little brother of my friend, Thor. They moved here back in like, third grade from Norway. Their dad is a hardass, Loki is adopted and has always been trouble, the way I hear it. They've been trying to get him help for years but the little shit doesn't want any. He's nine kinds of crazy and attracts others like him. The only thing that stops him from stomping down the rest of the student body is my friends and I. Because of Thor, we've been dealing with him since he was young enough to not be able to do any harm. Now that he's older… well, Loki has only gotten more unpredictable. We try to keep him in line, but even we try to avoid coming against him face to face."

Natasha and Clint exchanged a glance, some actual emotion creeping into Clint's face for once. It was fear. It was gone as soon as it came but Tony added quickly,

"But hey, just stick around with us and soon he'll know not to mess with you guys, he'll forget about you soon enough Barton. Don't mess with him and he's likely to ignore you."

Clint straightened, squaring his shoulders, and the students around them finally started moving into the classroom, the teacher opening the door.

"I'm not scared of guys like Loki. Trust me Stark, I've dealt with worse." And with that Clint turned sharply and disappeared inside the classroom. Tony made as if to follow him when he felt a soft hand on his arm. Turning, he met the piercing gaze of the red head.

"You like Clint?" Tony nodded slowly. "You want to hang out with Clint?" Tony nodded. "Can anything I say convince you to stay away from Clint?" Tony narrowed his eyes at her. After a moment, he shook his head. She smiled coldly. "Good. Keep Loki away from him. Help me keep everyone away from him who'd try to get to him. I can't do it completely by myself. And besides," she turned and started into the classroom, "He deserves friends."

**What could Natasha ****_possibly_**** mean by that? Hmm? Let me know your theories. Review please, and let me know if there is any particular scene/pairing/storyline/backstory/anything you want to see, as there is a good chance I will be willing to write it in. There probably won't be another update for at least a week or so, I am going to be out of town, but I promise to return with the next chapter completely written!**


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